Mayor Reed's office says city DID work to keep Braves

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's office says the city did in fact work to keep the Atlanta Braves inside the city.

Reed's communications director Carlos Campos issued a statement Thursday in response to reports the city did not have any interest in keeping the ball team.

Campos issued this statement:

These public remarks by Mr. Schuerholz are completely inaccurate and unfortunate. There are verifiable records, which have already been released to the public, that showthe Reed administration was fully engaged with the Atlanta Braves in good faith negotiations to keep the team at Turner Field.

As late as September 2013, the Braves had provided us with a list of demands they wanted met to keep the team at Turner Field. We were in the process of vetting those demands when they abruptly, and without warning, announced their intentions to move to Cobb County in early November.

To suggest that we had "no interest" in keeping the team at Turner Field is patently false. Mayor Reed gave the team his personal assurances, in a private meeting in his office, to team Chairman & CEO Terry McGuirk that he would get a deal to keep the Braves at Turner Field done, as soon as we had completed the Falcons stadium deal.

There was little public support for financing of a new stadium for the Falcons, so the notion of attempting to find public financing for two stadiums simultaneously was out of the question.

The Reed administration has a track record of accomplishments; and we're certain this deal would have been among them had the Braves shown some patience and continued to negotiate in good faith.

We wish the Braves well in their new home, but any notion that we were not engaged to keep them in the City is utter nonsense.